Do floppy disks belong in a landfill? San Francisco is finally upgrading its rail system

In April 2024 we published an article

And floppy disks again: the American train control system in San Francisco is completely dependent on floppy disks

. It said that one of the largest railway systems, which operates in San Francisco, is completely dependent on floppy disks. We are talking about the local train control system (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, SFMTA), which was developed back in the 90s of the last century.

And now the Americans have managed to abandon floppy disks as a storage medium. How and why? More about this below the cut.

What's wrong with this railroad?

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) still uses 5.25-inch floppy disks from the 1980s to operate trains. The last update of this system was carried out in 1998. The use of very outdated morally and physically components increases the risk of failures. Moreover, in such cases, organizations are forced to purchase spare parts through services like eBay and look for other suppliers, since many components have already been discontinued.

That is why the city authorities apparently decided to begin large-scale modernization. Officials approved a budget of $212 millionto move to new media, and signed a contract with Hitachi Rail to develop and implement the new system. According to the plan, work will begin in 2027 and be completed by 2033, since the project requires several stages of implementation on underground and surface routes.

Previously, ATCS automatic train control technology was considered very advanced, allowing trains to navigate through tunnels in autopilot mode. Now the system requires daily data entry from floppy disks. Commands for remote operators to control trains are transmitted over a cable system that has long been in need of modernization.

The cables currently used are too fragile and also have extremely low bandwidth. According to SFMTA spokesman Michael Roccaforte, they transmit data even slower than telephone wires using a modem. Wi-Fi connectivity and the use of cellular networks by 2028 will allow for better control of train movements and faster data processing, which will also improve safety.

What now

The total project budget will be $700 million, of which $212 million will be spent on eliminating floppy disks and replacing them with more modern data storage technologies, and the remaining funds will be used to update the entire communications infrastructure.

Back in April 2024, Roccaforte told Ars Technica: “When a train enters a subway, its on-board computer connects to the train control system to operate it in an automated manner, with trains running themselves and operators monitoring them. When they leave the subway, they disconnect from the system and return to manual control.”

The head of the SFMTA says that while a global outage could happen, it is an unlikely event. Now the system is stable, and problems will arise only if the floppy disks become damaged. It is worth noting that the service life of the system according to the original design was about a quarter of a century. On the one hand, of course, it’s good that the infrastructure is so reliable. On the other hand, it would still be better to change it to something more modern.

Problems with outdated infrastructure in the world

The legacy technology situation is not unique to San Francisco. In Japan, government agencies also used floppy disks until 2023, and the German Navy still operates with 8-inch floppy disks.

The fact is that the data collection and control systems on the frigate Brandenburg F123 were originally designed to work with 8-inch floppy disks. In more detail, the Brandenburg F123 is a German frigate of the Brandenburg class, belonging to the multi-purpose frigates of the German Navy. This type of frigate was introduced into service in the early 1990s and is designed to perform a variety of missions, including protecting maritime convoys, combating air and submarine threats, and supporting other military operations.

But until now, the ship has hardly been modernized. Even with the advent of more advanced storage systems, the German Navy was in no hurry to upgrade. The upgrades required considerable investment and would take the frigates out of service for at least a year. The fact is that modernization includes not only the replacement of hardware, but also reprogramming of systems, a test period and retraining of personnel.

So the German Navy will replace outdated carriers with a more modern onboard system. But the Germans still decided not to integrate something completely new, but to install modern emulators. It is already known that the modernization process began exactly in October 2024 and will last until July 31, 2025. The new technology is fully compatible with existing software and hardware.

As far as one can judge, floppy disks are still gradually losing ground, whether in the USA, Japan or Germany. But everything is logical here – the technology is too outdated. By the way, if you still come across floppy disks at work or at home, tell us how and why, because it’s interesting!